ESPN’s Ryan Clark worked a second line of attack on Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry (R) on Thursday, criticizing him for taking the hiring decision of LSU’s next head coach out of the hands of Athletic Director Scott Woodward, and calling the governor’s proposed Charlie Kirk statue on LSU’s campus, “ridiculous.”
Landry made headlines Wednesday by saying not only that Woodward would not be handling the Bayou Bengals’ next head coaching hire in the wake of former head coach Brian Kelly’s dismissal, but also that he would let President Trump make the call on the next coach, rather than Woodward.
In addition, on Monday, Landry called on LSU to honor the memory of slain conservative commentator Charlie Kirk by placing a statue of him on the campus.
In his commentary on Thursday, Clark, a sports commentator and LSU alum, seemed unable to confine himself to the sports issues at hand and segued from his criticism of Landry for comments on the next LSU coaching hire to his plans for a Charlie Kirk statue.
“First off, it’s the second-most ridiculous thing he said this week,” Clark said of Landry’s comments on the coaching hire. “The first was standing on campus and saying he wanted to put a statue up with somebody that doesn’t represent the people of Louisiana, doesn’t represent the players and the students at LSU, doesn’t represent the executives that worked there. That was the first dumb thing he said this week. This is the second-dumbest amongst a lot of dumb things that he says.”
It’s unclear on what basis Clark sees himself as the spokesperson of the players, students, and executives at LSU, and how they would feel about a potential Kirk memorial. However, it’s not unusual in the slightest for the ESPN hot-taker to establish himself as the sole voice of truth despite being unqualified to do so.
Earlier this month, Clark was forced to apologize on-air for completely misconstruing a video released by the attorney for late LSU receiver Kyren Lacy. The video, which showed Lacy’s vehicle driving behind the accident that the Louisiana authorities accused him of causing, seemed to Clark to signal the player’s innocence. An innocence that Clark proclaimed on-air.
“We can never repair or replace the pain that his parents have to feel and his loved ones have to feel, but we can say his name,” Clark said Oct. 6 on ‘SportsCenter’ after MNF. “There were so many stations that ran with the fact that he was being investigated, so I wanted to make sure, here with Scott (Van Pelt), we can say that he was an innocent man and at least know that he has that as he rests.”
However, as authorities pointed out, the video was incomplete and didn’t show Lacy’s erratic driving behind the cars involved. Which, authorities maintain, caused the accident in the first place.
Three days later, Clark apologized.
Clark has had to apologize on at least two other occasions for his outrageous behavior. In September, he had to apologize to his ESPN colleague Peter Schrager after Clark said his opinions on football matter more because he is a former player.
In May, Clark had to apologize to former ESPN colleague Robert Griffin III for bringing his wife, who is white, into a commentary about interracial relationships.
Whether Clark is forced to apologize for anything he said regarding Kirk or Landry remains to be seen.
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